Patsy Cline

The Story of the Best of the Best Country Singer Patsy Cline!

By; Ava Maytag and Nellie Happ

Patsy Cline

Born to Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester,Virginia on September 8,1932. She lived with her mother and father. Legend has it she started singing and entertaining at age 3. She had a love for singing and she know what she wanted to do at age 9. Virginia taught herself to play the piano early in life. Her brush with show business came at age four when she won a prize in an amateur tap dancing contest. She started really singing at age 7. At age 15 her parents divorced and Virginia's singing career had to help her mother with the expenses by singing in the evening at clubs. This helped lift Virginia's ,later know as Patsy Cline, singing career off the ground.

She help break down the gender barrier in county music when she got her first real break in the late 1950's. After many attempts her first major hit song was "Walkin' After Midnight." The song took off until she performed it on television talent show. After Patsy appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, the song hit the country and pop charts . She inspired her self to do better and to be the best that she can be. In the early 1960's she joined the cast of Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. With Decca Records, She released some of her greatest hits. "I Fall to Pieces" hit the top charts and "Crazy" did almost as well. Even with all the trouble of a county music star, Patsy sill had time to help other female performers such as,Loretta Lynn, with their careers.

However, to her disappointment, the Opry reps said that she would not be ready for big-time country radio. She when back to Winchester to sing at local clubs. She met and married Gerald Cline in 1952. That same year she was featured in Bill Peer's Melody Playboys of Brunswick, Maryland. In 1954 Peers got Patsy's first recording contract with 4 Star Records. In 1957 Patsy became a regular on the radio show "Town and Country Jamboree", a country-western program that broadcast in Washington, D.C. Pasty remarried,after she divorced Gerald in 1956, to Charles Dick.

Her career ended all to soon when her plane, approximately 85 miles west of Nashville, ran into turbulence and crashed .Sad to here where no survivors. She died March 5,1963 at age 30. Shortly before her death , she recorded a song in 1960, a single called 'Sweet Dreams." The song Became #5 on the county charts after her untimely death at age 30. Her best know song "Crazy" was written by future country-western legend Willie Nelson. Ten years after her death Patsy Cline was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The first female soloist chosen for the honor. Robert Getchell wrote a movie honoring her titled "Sweet Dream" the last song Patsy Cline ever did. Sweet Dreams is a biography about Patsy's life. Her songs are still sung today. She will be remembered because of her smooth voice and beautiful life.

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams is a movie about Patsy Cline's life. The movie was named after the song Patsy Cline wrote "Sweet Dreams.'' The film was written by Robert Getchell and directed by Karel Reisz.Jessica Lange plays Patsy Cline, Ed Harris plays Charlie Dick, Ann Wedgeworth, John Goodman plays Otis, P.J Soles, David Clennon plays Randy Hughes, Gary Basaraba, Bruce Kirby.

Patsy Cline was one of the first great female stars of country music. Her best-known hits were "Sweet Dreams" and "Walking After Midnight" Patse Cline was at the peak of her popularity when she died in a plane crash in 1963, and Sweet Dreams is a biopic which examines her life and career, with a particular focus on her troubled relationship with her second husband, Charlie Dick. Patsy Cline (played by Jessica Lange) is unhappily married and playing small-time gigs in West Virginia when she meets Charlie Dick (Ed Harris), whose charm and aggressive self-confidence catch her attention. In time, Patsy leaves her husband to marry Charlie , and she gives up music to focus on raising their children. But after Charlie goes into the Army, Patsy begins singing again, and after joining forces with manager Randy Hughes (David Clennon), Patsy becomes a rising star on the country music scene. However, Patsy's success fuels her self-confidence, much to Charlie's annoyance, and he becomes increasingly abusive (both physically and emotionally) as she attempts to assert her independence. Rather than attempt to re-create Patsy Cline's vocals, Jessica Lange decides to lip-synch with Patsy's original song recordings.